Malaysia oks ‘List’

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — The Malay cabinet has agreed to lift the ban on Steven Spielberg’s Oscar-winning film “Schindler’s List” and allow it to be screened under normal guidelines. However, that might not be the end of the controversy for the film with Malaysia’s Muslim government.

“The cabinet noted that the film deals with the atrocities of the Nazis against the Jews in Krakow, Poland, during the Second World War,” Deputy Prime Minister Seri Anwar Ibrahim said. He announced the decision to reverse the censorship board’s ban following the cabinet’s weekly meeting Wednesday afternoon.

It was Ibrahim who initially said a review of the ban was in order. The censorship board, which is under the direction of Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, called for the ban because of what it said was Jewish propaganda.

But the film’s release still may be subject to cuts, especially on scenes including sex and nudity.

When such a move was threatened in the Philippines, however, Spielberg said he would withdraw the film rather than edit it, and the film was shown intact.